The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

Thursday, January 24, 2013

It’s the Cost of Living, Stupid

by Evelyn Gordon

As Jonathan noted,
Benjamin Netanyahu’s unexpectedly poor electoral showing resulted
partly from his abysmal campaign. But it was also a clear vote of
no-confidence in his policies. The problem, from the world’s
perspective, is that what voters rejected wasn’t his foreign and defense
policies. Rather, it was his domestic ones.

The Jerusalem Post’s Herb Keinon has an excellent analysis
of just how dominant domestic considerations were in this election. As
he noted, the parties that significantly increased their parliamentary
representation–Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, Shelly Yacimovich’s Labor and
Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home–campaigned almost exclusively on domestic
issues. Even Bennett, who is unfairly caricatured overseas as
representing “the extreme right,” ran mainly on domestic issues,
capitalizing on his record as a successful high-tech entrepreneur. In
contrast, parties that ran on diplomatic/security issues–Netanyahu’s
Likud, Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah and Shaul Mofaz’s Kadima–did poorly, aside
from one exception: Meretz picked up the diehard peacenik votes Labor
lost by focusing on domestic issues.

The same conclusion emerged from another Post reporter’s visit
to the former Likud stronghold of south Tel Aviv (the city’s poorer
neighborhoods): Person after person praised Netanyahu on security issues
but panned him on bread-and-butter ones, and cited that as their reason
for abandoning his party.

In an article
for Commentary following the socioeconomic protests of summer 2011, I
detailed the many pressing domestic issues Israel faced and warned that
Netanyahu would be judged on whether he exploited the protests’ momentum
to address them. As it turns out, he didn’t–and especially not the one
most important to Israelis, the high cost of living. That partly
explains how Lapid could come from nowhere to win 19 seats by running on
pledges such as “Our children will be able to buy apartments” and “We’ll pay less for gasoline and electricity.”

Equally important, however, is that Israeli voters tend to vote
tactically. And with Netanyahu seemingly a shoo-in for the next prime
minister, they primarily focused on trying to ensure that his next
coalition would be both willing and able to carry out the needed
domestic reforms.

For this, a party that could replace the ultra-Orthodox in his
coalition was essential. It’s not just that the ultra-Orthodox would
block any attempt to make them serve in the army–something Israelis care
about, but not as top priority. Far more important is that they’d block
any other reforms aimed at benefiting the middle class. When the
outgoing government proposed an initiative to create affordable
middle-class housing, for instance, the ultra-Orthodox parties demanded
that the criteria be altered to favor ultra-Orthodox applicants. And since he had no government without them, Netanyahu capitulated.

Yacimovich, having pledged not to join the government, couldn’t fill
this role–and in any case, her economic views were too different from
Netanyahu’s to make a partnership likely. Livni cared only about the
nonexistent peace process, and would cheerfully sacrifice domestic
reforms for freedom to pursue that goal (which the ultra-Orthodox would
grant). But Lapid repeatedly promised his voters two things: He would
join any government if at all possible, but not a government dependent
on the ultra-Orthodox and incapable of carrying out reforms.

In short, he promised exactly the tactical solution that
domestic-oriented voters were seeking. And in the final days of the
campaign, when it became clear there were no better options, voters
flocked to his banner.Evelyn GordonSource: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/01/23/its-the-cost-of-living-stupid/Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.